Day 31: St Joseph to Chillicothe

Today’s Highlights:
It’s hard to believe that I cycled ninety miles today, because it felt like twenty. Maybe it was the great weather, or the beautiful pastoral scenery, or the rolling hills and smooth roads. Maybe it was the previous rest day or the four weeks of conditioning, or all of the above. Most of the riders agreed that today was a great ride.

We left St. Joseph Missouri with a clear sky and a comfortable 58 degrees. A light wind from the north did not effect our predominately easterly route. The temperature slowly climbed into the eighties by afternoon, which was still quite comfortable. The terrain was very hilly again. There wasn’t a flat stretch until about mile 81 to 82. But that’s what made it so fun. I just rolled over one hill after another with relative ease. We traveled on quite country roads all day, passing farms and ranches. Occasionally, there were horses or cattle. The houses on most of these farms seem to be much more modern or updated than those I saw west of here. The farms are still huge and the houses separated by miles sometimes. A few towns we passed through had a population of only 100 to 200. Their town centers had small house and quite streets. Our first rest stop was in a slightly bigger town, Maysville. One old local gentleman came up to chat with use. He handed Gene a large stack of 4″x4″ paper as a gift, and suggested he give each rider a small hunk of it so we could take notes about our trip. He wanted us to have something to remember his town by. It was a very friendly gesture, and I will remember him. Our next stop was in Jamesport, in Amish country. I saw some people traveling by horse-drawn buggies. As I came up behind one of them, two small girls peeked out the back window. Perhaps they were curious about me and my funny bike clothes. I was surprised how easy it was to cycle passed them. Horses don’t trot very fast. There was one Amish farm with several buggies parked in front, and a young boy riding a miniature cart pulled by a pony.

Our final town was Chillicothe Missouri. It’s a large city that seems quite prosperous. The bread slicing machine was invented here, so it is known as “the home of sliced bread”. There is a large mural on a main street building commemorating this. There were several other very nice murals.

Pictures Of The Day:

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Statistics:
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